The Downtown Atlanta Development Review Committee heard plans for two major mixed-use projects at its Jan. 25 meeting: a $50 million development is proposed near the former Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter and plans to develop the warren of parking lots and railroad tracks known as The Gulch next door to Philips Arena.

Downtown

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the development near the closed homeless shelter is being called SoNo on Peachtree (SoNo is an abbreviation for the Downtown district south of North Avenue) and will include a 75,000-square-foot office building and a 300-unit apartment building. The office building would also house 13,000 square feet of retail and space for a weekend farmers market. The project, located across from Emory Midtown Hospital, is being developed by The Matera Group.

The Gulch (Courtesy of Google Maps)

The DRC also heard plans for the proposed $1 billion redevelopment of The Gulch, which is being touted as a prime spot for Amazon’s new headquarters, HQ2. Los Angeles-based CIM Group plans to develop 9.35 million square feet of office in at least six towers, 1 million square feet of retail space, three residential towers and hotels at the 27-acre site. Site work on the project could begin in 12 months, but completion of the site would be 10 years away.

The Gulch has been long pitched as the site for a new multimodal transportation terminal to accommodate AMTRAK, commuter trains, and MARTA. However, the CIM project does not include the multimodal terminal, but the site is near the Philips Arena and Five Points MARTA stations and access points would be created for both.

A rendering of the new Anthem building at Tech Square. (Courtesy Portman Holdings)

Midtown

In Midtown, Portman Holdings has secured financing for its $150 million, 21-story state-of-the-art office development for healthcare provider, Anthem. PCCP contributed equity financing and SunTrust was the lead lender, while Regions also served as a lender for the project.

Anthem Technology Center will be 352,000-square-feet at Technology Square, which has become a hotbed for start-ups and research facilities thanks to being part of the Georgia Tech campus. The Anthem building with be a hub for about 3,000 multi-disciplinary IT professionals.

The John Portman & Associates designed project will also feature kore than 14,000 square-feet of terrace area for greenspace and 7,000 square-feet of retail space. SunTrust Bank will also open a full service branch at the building.

Groundbreaking is slated for Feb. 21, 2018, and construction is expected to take two years to complete.

“Technology Square” aka Tech Square is Georgia Tech. It’s not next to it, it’s literally the Business School area of campus for Georgia Tech. Scheller School of Business, Georgia Tech Hotel, Georgia Tech Barns & Noble, even most of businesses, like Tech Square Labs were founded by Georgia Tech graduates. It’s Georgia Tech.

Perhaps an edit to “thanks to its location near Georgia Tech”…… “thanks to being the center of Georgia Tech’s business district”.